Devar/5770/Shemini
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עברית
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Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: These are the living things which ye may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. (Lev 11:2)
Everyone knows that not every kind of food is "kosher" for Jews. The Torah gives us a detailed list of animals, some of whom it forbade to be eaten, and some permitted. In any case, the Torah is exacting in detailing the short list of animals which are kosher for Jewish nutrition.
The concept of "kosher" does not only apply to animals, rather it is applicable to all sorts of food. There are time-bound prohibitions -- for example, refraining from leavening on Passover. There are time-bound obligations -- for example, eating "matsah" on Passover. There are prohibitions applied to kinds of foods which otherwise are kosher, for example Gentile wine -- and similarly regarding all the other sorts of food, with all sorts of conditions. It is very important to the serious Jew to learn what is prohibited and what is permitted, and to always walk on the path of the permitted and steer clear of the forbidden.
However, a very worrying phenomenon has appeared among our people: that even that which is absolutely permitted, they forbid based upon a custom which they had during the Exile, and they raise their custom to the status of a permanent prohibition. The "prohibition" of kitniyot on Passover, for example. In addition, there is a phenomenon of "the more strict, the more praiseworthy", in which new strictures are invented in order to become closer to God, so to speak. "Glatt" on everything, for example. And by means of these two phenomena, a situation is created whereby a simple Jew finds it extremely difficult to find "kosher food", when if it weren't for these useless strictures there would be plenty of food, praise God! And of this, our Sages said: therefore our Sages commanded that one only restrain himself from those things which the Torah prevented from him, and not prohibit permitted things to himself with vows and oaths. So stated our Sages: 'Is it not enough for you what which the Torah forbade, but that you go and prohibit yourself additional things?' (Laws of Personality Development 3:3). It is enough that which the Torah commanded, and the Sages explained, and there is no need to seek out additional strictures.
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